This is something I do and I know a lot of my friends here do. Buying new or used games when you already have plenty you haven’t played. I like to collect things so that’s one reason, even virtual libraries of titles. I check out bundle deals on humble bundle or indiegala and check out recommended games from friends and websites. I don’t have a huge Steam library but still I have plenty I haven’t played or played a little, enjoyed, but haven’t gone back to for some unknown reason.
So, why do we do it? Are there so many good games we want to sample or maybe there are a lot of games that take a long time to complete and haven’t got to the others yet?
My problem is sales. I stock up during Steam’s sales where things are just a few dollars, and then they just pile up. Or humble bundles/groupees/etc. Anytime I’m buying more than just one game, because I know I WILL play it eventually… and it’s on sale NOOOWWW… haha.
I admit I bought a few games I have yet to play solely on finding good deals, although my back-log isn’t as nearly as long as other users. About under 10 games I have yet to play and complete. I try to catch myself when I start collecting for the mere sake of collecting games rather than playing them. I’m glad my computer isn’t powerful enough to play majority of Steam released games. For games I am unsure of buying- I usually download the demo first, and stick to retro games since I know I’m going to enjoy playing them. Also not a fan of digital-released games, prefer having a real copy.
A lot of it comes down to sales for me too, combined with games I really want to have at any price. Humble bundle, Steam sales, PlayStation Store, eShop, etc. I tend to buy the majority of my games digitally, as I am ambivalent about the need to own physical things. Exceptions to that being things I simply can’t get digitally. I would say that the majority of my physical collection was accumulated over years of gaming pre-digital releases.
I just discovered indiegala thanks to extra life and got some cheap games. I intend on playing all of them. Like most of you I love sales, steam summer sale june 23rd! Also, i think i mentioned, i’m a collector so physical copies of retro games make me very happy. Maybe i just like entertainment options. I have tons of music, mp3s, tapes, cds, records. I have a very small music backlog, but thats not the same as playing a game. You can put on music while doing something else.
I’ve gone the way of getting rid of most media. Music? Spotify and iTunes. Movies? Netflix. I still buy books because the physicality of books is an experience of its own. I still do but games on physical media, but only about 10-20%. For me it is the experience of the game/music/movie is what matters most. But I understand that many, like you, enjoy collecting the physical object, which is a specific type of joy.
I never heard of Indiegala, I will have to put that on my radar now. I just got my first Humble Bundle deal (the one that’s going on now, the Narrative games) because I wanted to play all of those games… I mean, I couldn’t resist. I have a tendency of starting a lot of games and then eventually forgetting about them or giving up when it gets really challenging. I wanted to push myself to finish more games this summer while I’m on grad school break.
I have a mixed of virtual and physical games collected, I don’t have a strong preference unless it’s a game I know I will really enjoy and want to have the manual with it. I’m the same with books though, while I generally get most of my stuff at the library, I purchase the books I really enjoyed. Getting back on track here, I mean, it’s the excitement of owning a lot of potentially awesome games and having the thought “well when I get my long break, I’ll definitely play these games!”, you know?
I do the same thing. Maybe not when it gets too challenging, just forgetting. I started White Night a year ago, really liked it, but haven’t gone back to it. I just have too many options. Maybe I should go for shorter games. I think 10+ hours of time investment is almost too much for me. But then again I must have dumped 100 hours into Hearthstone, so I guess it comes down to how good the game is. Can I work toward something in the game? Is there enough substance?
They are hit or miss but I’m sure you’ll find a good bundle eventually.
I work part time right now but usually have a lot going on with artwork, playing music, tinkering with electronics, working on the house and reading once in awhile. I’m sure you have several things you like to do, video games are just one of many. Now I’m really off topic.
Anyway. I like to sample games and will eventually play them all. Maybe not complete, but I do have every intention to at least play them (for more than the 20 min “hey this is fun” phase).
I have this problem although recently I’ve kind of settled down on my game accumulation, because it’s definitely at a stage where I have more games than I could ever possibly play. Though with Grouvee I’ve created a “to-play-next” list so I’m actually slowly making my way through some of the games.
In truth I kind of miss the old days. I think I’ve mentioned this here on the forums previously but I remember being a young lad with my IBM 486 and DOS games were super rare. I’d be lucky to find one game per year… I couldn’t purchase them in Australia, so I’d end up getting them on a floppy disk from an uncle or school friend, by chance. In those days I used to really treasure my games, no matter how bad they were. Even one poor quality shareware game would keep me occupied for 6+ months and I’d play it over and over again and really cherish it and master it. Now it’s the opposite, I have so many games that I end up suffering from choice anxiety, so overwhelmed by the sheer number of them that I can’t decide which to play, or else I start one and move on without finishing it, as my hard drive fills up with hundreds of incomplete saved games.
I bought it during the Steam summer sale along with Hotline Miami, Shovel Knight, The Stanley Parable and Guacamelee! so naturally it took the back seat. I played guaca the most then hotline miami.
There is nothing wrong with White Night, I would recommend it and I will go back to it. There are cool mechanics around light and shadow. Don’t stay in the shadows for too long, search for light etc. Now I want to play it.
At the time I was also logging some serious hours into Super Meat Boy. Now that I have only a couple games I’m working on, I’ll pick up White Night again. Thanks for reminding me about it!
Yes, I am totally in the same boat with sampling the games and deciding to play them later (if I remember). I’m guilty of downloading tons of demos and thinking “I really like this,” then never proceeding to get the game OR get the game, but don’t play it yet. Having this Grouvee account is really helping me look at the numbers and deciding “okay, I have this many games listed and I currently have access to these games… let’s start playing those.”
When the world comes to it’s inevitable end, be it by zombies, war, aliens, or Trump, whatever, I will open my ‘End of the World’ Arcade. There I will charge food, fuel and other survival necessities for people to play my game collection. Not only will I have endless entertainment, but my game collection will provide me with all I need to live out the rest of my days in relative luxury without needing to scrounge for survival.
Everybody does it for a reason of their own,but i can only speak for myself.In my case,why i do it is down to two reasons.The first is,when i get stuck at a certain stage in a game and i don’t want to watch walkthroughs,i just leave the game for a while,then later on i forget about it.At this stage,what happens is i buy a new one to get my mind off the old one,once completed i go back and finish the old one.Reason number two is,i’d be playing a game,but when looking at new games i may find sometimes games that will catch my interest,and i end up playing and finishing the new game that captured my interest before going back and completing the older one.Not everyone is the same,but i guess i’m not the only one that accumulates games for those two reasons.
I have bought a lot of physical copies of games in the last couple of years that I will probably never play. Ideally I would have time for them all, but between gaming, work and a social life I expect a lot to gather dust on my shelves for a while. I think this partly comes from the desire to preserve them. A lot of these games I picked up cheap from folks who would have just as happily thrown them away, so I would rather hold onto them until I play them myself or am able to pass them onto someone who will. Also, with the price of older or rare games constantly on the rise I can’t help but buy some games while they are still somewhat affordable (I think of them as an investment of sorts). And finally, I hope to one day have a kickass game room decked out with every console and game I could ever dream of owning. But that is still a long way off.
I make a good effort to just play one game at a time. I mostly play older games on emulators or modded consoles, so I’ll just burn a game I really want to play, and play through it until I’m sick of it. This is of course mostly for single player games, I don’t do much multiplayer anymore. I find this much more satisfying than having a bunch of games I’ve only tested out.
That’s good, you save money too. I’ve totally changed my opinion toward emulation. I used to be steadfast against it. But with the price of rare games…or even retro games in general, there is really no other way to play them. I wanted to get all the NES megaman cartridges, which I did, but it was not cheap. I know you could get collection disks for PS2 or download classics on the nintendo store but some games are not available. I just played Panic Restaurant for the first time yesterday. Fun platformer.
Yeah totally. I actually prefer emulation in most cases because I’m able to fast forward (for jrpgs) and use savestates and what not. Also, I prefer to live minimally without many things, so having everything on my computer feels much better to me than having a bunch of consoles, with a whole bookshelf full of games, etc.
Right now I’m digging the PS2 though. I haven’t had a TV in years, but since I do all of my creative and monetary work on my computer, it’s nice to just turn on my TV (a small $5 CRT from the local thrift store) and play Elemental Gearbolt or Ape Escape.
I’m all for supporting developers though, and when I buy contemporary PC games, I usually buy it through the dev’s website at full price instead of whatever crazy sale is going on on Steam to give them more money. I just don’t really like contemporary games that much…
In addition to what @bmo said, emulation also allows for fan translations, making games more accessible which is also great.
